Abstract

Declarations on end of life issues are advocacy interventions that seek to influence policy, raise awareness and call others to action. Despite increasing prominence, they have attracted little attention from researchers. Our study tracks the emergence, content and purpose of declarations concerned with assisted dying and euthanasia, in the global context. We identified 62 assisted dying/euthanasia declarations covering 1974–2016, and analysed them for: originating organization, geographic scope, format, and stated viewpoint on assisted dying/euthanasia. The declarations emerged from diverse organizational settings and became more frequent over time. Most opposed assisted dying/euthanasia.